I am not a locksmith but sometimes I play one at home :). I have read extensively online and replaced and rekeyed my own Schlage Primus door locks, etc, but I have had to rely on advice from my local locksmiths (who are not all necessarily competent) and am up in a quandry at this point. I am ready to install an in-residence safe. Although it is in a residence I have actually settled upon a commercial quality drill resistant laminated plate Class TL30 vault type multiply bolted directly to a reinforced steel concrete foundation. Fireproofing is not much of a concern. Price is not as much an issue as is the primary concern of eliminating professional entry via the door/lock in under 36 hours. The ones I'm looking at are almost all semi-custom made with multiple options.
My question, from the experts here, is what type of lock to opt for. My choices are generally a Group 1 (something along the lines of and S&G 84xx series with a glass plate relock trip) and random sensors, vs. one of the newer digital touch pad locks. I was also considering something like a Kaba Mas X-09, but 1. $1900, seems a little much for just a glorified digital combo lock and 2, my local locksmiths are clueless about it and won't even work with me on it.
As far as the prior two options, I've gotten so much runaround from my usual local 'experts' as to which is more effective. Even in all the manufacturer detailed specs I've seen NONE have 'comparitively rated' the electronic locks relative to a Group 1/2 lock in so far as locksmith/burgular proof? There just isn't enough on the net about them? I've been able to learn just about everything about mechanical locks from how they're built to how to break them, but nothing on electronic locks.It would seem to me a 7 digit digital combo with 1-10 million possibilities would be far superior to a 50K-200K poss. mechanical one. Plus, all else being equal, I'd personally prefer a 7 or 8 digit keypad to a dial. Are there major drawbacks or disadvantages with them? Are they easily bypassed/reprogrammed by a pro? Are there secret factory overrides that everyone knows? Are they susceptible to RF or uWaves? What about the loss of battery power or overloading? I haven't been able to find ANY notes about breaking them like with the mechanical locks, but they are still relatively new. I've read that in some cases the solenoid can be bypassed with a large magnet? How prone are they to drill attack? Are they able to be configured with additional internal sensors to detect drilling or tilt motion? As a programmer it would seem to me that if you are passing a signal into the safe via wire(s) to open it, that someone with a laptop or less should be easily able to break off the keypad and wire right into that line. I'm not looking for details on breaking them (unless something already exists out there that I missed reading)? But I AM interested in knowing why, if they are as secure as they appear to be, and as advertised by many of my local so called experts, then why are they not being used EVERYWHERE and why have not all mechanical locks gone the way of the wringer washingmachine? I figured there would be no better place to ask than those who would prefer to preserve mechanical locks. :) Go ahead, give me your worst bias on them. Thanks, Mike